Tuesday's NHL Capsules

Tuesday's NHL Capsules

January 19th, 2011 in News

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Chris Conner scored on Pittsburgh's first successful penalty shot in nearly four years, Jordan Staal added his third goal in three games and the Sidney Crosby-less Penguins beat the injury-thinned Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Tuesday night.

Pittsburgh had been without a penalty shot goal since Jarkko Ruutu scored against Toronto on Jan. 20, 2007. Conner converted at 11:29 of the first, making it 2-0. Staal scored 3:02 into the game.

Penguins All-Star goalie Marc-Andre Fleury preserved the lead by making 36 saves. Fleury, 21-11-2 despite winning only once in his first seven starts, has 80 saves in his last two starts. He stopped 44 shots in a 3-2 victory over Boston on Saturday.

Johan Franzen scored Detroit's only goal.

Flyers 3, Capitals 2

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Andrej Meszaros scored 1:07 into overtime to bail out Philadelphia after it blew a third period lead.

Meszaros ended OT with a wrist shot just outside the slot that beat Semyon Varlamov.

The winner came after the Flyers blew a 2-0 lead in the third. Jeff Carter and Claude Giroux each scored for the Flyers.

Mike Knuble and Alex Ovechkin scored in the third period to rally the Capitals.

The Flyers won only hours after they gave general manager Paul Holmgren a three-year contract extension. Holmgren has made one shrewd move after another the last five years to help put the Flyers atop the Eastern Conference. Lightning 3, Blue Jackets 2

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Ryan Malone scored the only goal of a shootout in the fourth round and Steven Stamkos had two goals during regulation for Southeast Division leading Tampa Bay.

Lightning goalie Dwayne Roloson had 28 saves in regulation, and four more in the shootout for his 200th NHL win.

R.J. Umberger and Derick Brassard scored for the Blue Jackets, who were coming off a win and an overtime loss in consecutive games against Central Division-leading Detroit following a five-game losing skid. Goalie Mathieu Garon assisted on Umberger's goal and stopped 20 shots during regulation.

Avalanche 4, Canucks 3

DENVER (AP) - David Jones scored two goals, including the winner with 2:52 remaining in overtime, and Colorado snapped a four-game skid against Vancouver.

John-Michael Liles and Milan Hejduk also scored for the Avalanche, who have won three of their last four games.

Jones lunged at the puck to score the decisive goal on a power play after Tomas Fleischmann sent a pass into the goal crease.

The Canucks had nearly killed off the interference penalty to Henrik Sedin before Jones knocked his 16th goal of the season.

Craig Anderson finished with 40 saves.

Alexander Edler, Ryan Kesler and Sergei Shirokov scored for the Canucks as the Western Conference leaders wrapped up a five-game road swing 2-2-1.

Ryan shot past Brian Elliott on Anaheim's second attempt after Mike Fisher hit the right post on Ottawa's second shot.

Jonas Hiller had already stopped Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson's backhand when he denied Erik Karlsson on Ottawa's final attempt to seal the win. He stopped 39 shots for the Ducks, who won their second in a row to begin a four-game road trip.

Corey Perry gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead with a highlight-reel tally 14:30 in for his 24th goal and 50th point, both team highs.

Fisher drew Ottawa even late in the second. Elliott made 26 saves, including a huge stop on Matt Beleskey's breakaway midway through the third.

The Canadiens played much of the game minus two forwards. Max Pacioretty was taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons after being struck in the right side by a teammate's shot early in the first period. Montreal also lost Michael Cammalleri to an upper body injury, after he was cross-checked from behind by Buffalo's Mike Weber early in the first period.

Tyler Ennis had a goal and assist and Thomas Vanek had two assists for Buffalo, which snapped a four-game losing streak against the Canadiens, dating to last season.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Milan Lucic scored with 8:11 left and Tim Thomas made a season-high 43 saves to lead Boston.

Thomas won his fourth straight start and a matchup of All-Star goalies. Brad Marchand and Johnny Boychuk also scored and Mark Recchi added two assists for the Northeast Division-leading Bruins, who have won five of six and swept a home-and-home against Carolina.

Jussi Jokinen and Chad LaRose scored, while Cam Ward made 25 saves for the Hurricanes. They have lost three of four since they earned points in eight straight games.

Lucic's winner came with 53 seconds left on an elbowing minor to LaRose. Recchi skated behind the end line and found an uncovered Lucic in front of the goal.

Blues 2, Kings 1

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Erik Johnson scored the go-ahead goal on a third-period shot that slowly trickled between goalie Jonathan Quick's pads in the St. Louis' victory.

Patrik Berglund snapped a 3-for-38 power play drought in the first period for the Blues, who ended a three-game home losing streak and a 1-6-1 slump overall and leapfrogged a point ahead of Los Angeles in the Western Conference standings. Jaroslav Halak raised his career mark against Los Angeles to 7-1, making 26 saves.

Matt Greene ended a 10-game point drought with his first goal of the season for the Kings, who are in a 2-9 slump. Quick made his first start in three games and made 24 saves, but couldn't control Johnson's innocent looking point shot wth 6:47 to go.

Predators 5, Coyotes 2

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) - J.P. Dumont got his first hat trick in 9 1/2 years and the Nashville Predators handed Phoenix its second home loss in as many days.

The 32-year-old forward has four career three-goal games, but this was his first since Nov. 12, 2001. After just four goals in his first 45 games this season, Dumont has five in his last two.

Dumont scored one in the first period and two in the second in an almost-empty Jobing.com Arena, where the crowd was announced at 8,236 but was far smaller.

Patric Hornqvist scored the other two goals for Nashville. Radim Vrbata and Lee Stempniak scored for Phoenix as the Coyotes lost two in a row at home for the first time this season.

Wild 4, Oilers 1

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Anton Khudobin stopped 31 shots and Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Brent Burns each had a goal and an assist to lead Minnesota.

Matt Cullen and Andrew Brunette also scored for the Wild, who have won two after a three-game losing streak. Minnesota has six wins in its last nine games.

Magnus Paajarvi scored for the Oilers who have lost three in a row and 12 of their last 14.

Nikolai Khabibulin started in goal for Edmonton while Devan Dubnyk remained in the dressing room with an illness. Khabibulin allowed two goals on four shots before the game was three and a half minutes old.